“Sunday is not a day of rest.”

Mom Puts Family on Her Meal Plan

Leslie Kaufman in a recent New York Times article says that the best way to put daily meals on the table for her family is to plan and prepare on Sunday.   She gives a detailed rundown on how she does this in the midst of being as busy as any of us.  Take a look: Mom Puts Family on Her Meal Plan.

Learn and Enjoy,
–E

Pasta with Smoked Salmon – Recipe from Valeria

Pasta with Smoked Salmon

1 packet of smoked salmon
1 small bunch of fresh dill
1 box of pasta (bow ties are best)
60 g butter
200 ml cooking cream

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box.
In the meantime, cut up the salmon into small pieces.
When the pasta is cooked, drain and return to pot. Add butter and stir until melted.
Add salmon, dill and cream and stir until heated through.
Serve immediately.

Creamy Pasta with Peas and Ham – Recipe from Valeria

Creamy Pasta with Peas and Ham
15 g butter
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup frozen peas
1 package of fresh fettuccine or 1 box of pasta
150 ml cooking cream
30 g grated Parmesan cheese
150 g sliced ham, chopped

Cook pasta according to instructions on the box and drain.
In the meantime, melt butter in a large non-stick pan over medium heat.
Add garlic and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Add peas, cream, Parmesan cheese and ¼ teaspoon ground pepper and cook 3 minutes.
Stir in cooked pasta and the chopped ham.
Serve immediately.

Easy Roast Chicken with Vegetables with a Chicken Cooking Tip from Valeria

Easy Roast Chicken with Vegetables

1 whole chicken
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
1 lemon, cut in half
Dried or fresh rosemary, thyme, sage (optional)

3 potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
2 onions, cut into quarters
2 red, yellow, or orange peppers, cut into strips
1 whole head of garlic, sliced lengthwise in half

Preheat oven to 425 deg F or 220 deg C.
Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels.
Place chicken in glass or metal pan that can go in the oven.
Baste the outside of the chicken with olive oil and juice from the lemon. Place the squeezed lemon into the cavity of the chicken. Add dried or fresh herbs, if desired.
Place cut vegetables around the chicken and cook for 1 to 1 ½ hours.

How to tell if a chicken is cooked:
1. the leg will be loose and easy to move
2. if you stick a knife into the meat, the juices
will run clear, not red
3. if you pull the thigh away from the body you won’t
see a lot of pink.

Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes after you pull it from the oven before cutting it.
It will continue to cook during this time.

Roasted Endive and Prosciutto Ham – Recipe from Amanda

Roasted Endive and Prosciutto Ham

This is something I stole from Jamie Oliver. Take fresh thyme and pound it in the mortar/pestle with garlic . . . add LOTS of olive oil, pour the whole mess into a large bowl, and then work it into endive which I cut in half long ways. Wrap the oiled/herbed endive in prosciutto ham, pour some good balsamic vinegar over it all, and roast. It also works with radicchio, but that turns an awful color when it cooks, although it tastes really nice.

Cooking time: I must confess, I’m not really sure. I’d say between 45 and 60 minutes, however.

Recipe Search Tip

Let’s say you have looked at the category list and the current posts but you only have a few ingredients in the cupboard.  Try plugging in a spice like basil or a vegetable like cucumber, for example, into the search box and voilà,  you’ll have a list of recipes with those ingredients.

Enjoy,

–E

Roasted Tomatoes – Recipe from Amanda

Roasted Tomatoes
I can’t seem to get tired of this. I blanch tomatoes in boiling water to remove the skins. Those oblong Italian tomatoes work best. Slice them in half. Sometimes I deseed them, too. I put them in a shallow dish and drizzle them with olive oil. If I am feeling ambitious, I make some basil pesto and put a small dab of that on each tomato half. If I am lazy, I just chiffonade some basil leaves and sprinkle them over. Lots of sea salt and black pepper and roast. I like the results best when I use a slow oven and they take on more of a sun-dried consistency, but you can also blast them quickly in a really hot oven until they start to blacken. Some parmesan cheese or mozzarella is good on these too . . . while they are still in the oven is best so it all melts.

Roasted Beet Salad with Feta and Toasted Pine Nuts – Recipe from Amanda

Roasted Beet Salad with Feta and Toasted Pine Nuts

I love beets. I had this salad at my friends’ restaurant and then recreated it at home. Not exactly the same, but very good.

I wrap the beets in foil and roast them in the oven. This time I did three beets, but that was really too much for just the two of us. Since roasting beets is not an exact science, I discovered that if they are still a little too crunchy, you can dice them and then finish them in the microwave. I add a little olive oil, lemon juice, crumbled feta, and the pine nuts. Chopped fresh herbs are nice if you have them: mint or oregano or both works well.

Ribs – Recipe from Amanda

Ribs
Pork and chicken are about the best you can do for meat here in Slovakia. I recently rediscovered this recipe for ribs that I got from a fellow expat in Argentina:

About 2 kilos/4 pounds ribs or whatever you find in the grocery store. Often I get those pieces of pork without bones. Boil them in salted water for about one hour. Drain.

Cover with the following sauce made of

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vinegar (I use whatever, including balsamic)
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 onion, diced

You can thin the sauce with a little water if you want . . . 1/2 cup. I forgot this time. I spread the meat in a shallow pan like a lasagna dish. Cover with sauce and put in oven at 250F for about 2 hours, turning the pieces a few times. Messy, but really delicious.

Oatmeal Fudge Bars – Recipe from Amanda

I have had great success with this dessert recently.

OATMEAL FUDGE BARS

Note: To prepare baking pan, oil baking pan (or use baking spray) and line with aluminum foil, allowing excess foil to overhang pan edges. Oil foil again. Once cookies have been baked and cooled, use foil overhang to lift from pan.

Crust and Topping (this is a single portion, but I have taken to doubling this)
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup packed light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate)
1/8 teaspoon salt
125 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 160C. Prepare baking pan (recipe says 9 inch x 9 inch, but I used a 9 x 13 or a lasagna size pan). Whisk flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl. Stir in butter until combined. Set 1 ¼ cups oatmeal mixture aside for topping (I think I only set aside 1 cup because I didn’t seem to have that much in my bowl in the first place.) Press remaining oatmeal mixture firmly into prepared pan. Bake until light brown, about 6-8 minutes. Cool completely.

Filling
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules or espresso powder (I left this out because I didn’t have it and thought kids might not like, but I think it would be good!)
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped semi-sweet chocolate (I used three bars of Slovak baking chocolate, chopped)
65 grams unsalted butter, cut into cubes
3 large eggs

2. For the filling: Whisk flour, sugar, instant coffee, and salt in bowl. Melt chocolate chips and butter in large bowl (I used the microwave); whisk in eggs, then stir in flour mixture. Pour filling over cooled crust and sprinkle with reserved oatmeal mixture.

3. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with few crumbs attached, 30-40 minutes. Cool to room temperature, at least one hour. Cut into small squares.

Can be stored in the refrigerator up to three days.